84% of pets put down within 24 hours at PETA's Norfolk, Va., headquarters, according to documents. (?tibchris)

(Newser)
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PETA's controversial campaigns for animal rights dominate headlines—but behind the scenes, the picture is quite different, according to newly released documents. Last year, the organization killed more than 95% of the pets in its charge at its Norfolk, Va., headquarters, the Daily Caller reports. Documents released by the state's agriculture department show that the group placed 24 animals in 2011—and killed 1,911.

"It appears PETA is more concerned with funding its media and advertising antics than finding suitable homes for these dogs and cats,” says the head of the Center for Consumer Freedom, which posted the documents online. PETA lacks "sufficient animal enclosures" to house the number of animals it reportedly takes in, says an investigator, who adds that the group kills 84% of the animals it receives within 24 hours. A rep for the group didn't contest the figures, but told the Daily Caller that it only kills animals due to “injury, illness, age, aggression, or because no good homes exist for them. Most of the animals we take in are society’s rejects; aggressive, on death’s door, or somehow unadoptable," she added.

I don't like PETA, but anyone who has a problem with this should think about how all those animals ended up on their doorstep. PETA is not primarily an animal shelter. If it were it would have much less money. The money is donated by activists who want to see it spent on their media campaigns, not anything else. If PETA were primarily an animal shelter, it wouldn't have nearly as much money. People keep getting animals, not fixing them, and giving them and their progeny up before they die. Animal shelters are swamped and underfunded. They have no other option but to kill most of them. The no-kill shelters turn away most of them. They get a lot of bad press for this, but what is the other option? Let the animals loose to die on the streets, or to have exponential amounts of babies that they'll get to see in a couple years when they get captured by animal control and taken -guess where? You should all read this .

Naked_Emperor

Feb 28, 2012 10:27 AM CST

P eople E ating T asty A nimals I have been a member for years.

Reading

Feb 28, 2012 5:31 AM CST

I find it hard to like an organization that 'loves' animals and yet threaten to 'kill' or 'stone' people. Seems ironic and priorities are misplaced. I love animals by the way.